I am planing to create a four point gradient, pictured below, by drawing two linear gradients via core graphics and masking between them with a third black and white linear gradient.
Is there a more efficient way to draw a four point gradient using core graphics, or other?
You can save the mask gradient when you use a CGBlendMode. It's just harder to control the exact colors. But if that's not important for you, it could be a little more efficient in terms of lines of code and maybe also in terms of performance.
Here's an example with some random colors and CGBlendModeExclusion (CGBlendModeDifference gives you a similar effect)
- (void) drawRect:(CGRect)rect
{
CGContextRef ctx = UIGraphicsGetCurrentContext();
CGContextSetBlendMode(ctx, kCGBlendModeExclusion);
CGColorSpaceRef space = CGColorSpaceCreateDeviceRGB();
CGFloat col1[8] = {
1.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0,
0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 1.0
};
CGGradientRef grad1 = CGGradientCreateWithColorComponents (space, col1, NULL, 2);
CGContextDrawLinearGradient(ctx, grad1, CGPointMake(0, 0), CGPointMake(0, 320), 0);
CGFloat col2[8] = {
1.0, 0.5, 0.0, 1.0,
0.0, 1.0, 0.0, 1.0
};
CGGradientRef grad2 = CGGradientCreateWithColorComponents (space, col2, NULL, 2);
CGContextDrawLinearGradient(ctx, grad2, CGPointMake(0, 0), CGPointMake(320, 0), 0);
CGGradientRelease(grad1);
CGGradientRelease(grad2);
CGColorSpaceRelease(space);
}
Draw four circles:
Apply radial transparent gradient:
Result:
Notes:
- The gray lines represent the bitmap size.
- The diameter of the circles is twice the bitmap diameter.
- Each circle is centered at one of the bitmap corner.
- Effectively only the center part is drawn.
- The remaining parts are outside the bitmap.